Jenn Gavin watches her three year old, Milo, playing on the other side of a chain-link fence around the empty pool. She says they walk to this park regularly.

“My son was able to enjoy the wading pool one season before it closed and now every time we come to this park he asks where the water is,” Gavin says. “I grew up in a city with really great parks and I just don’t think Grand Rapids has that. It’s very important to me.”

Steve Faber is executive director of the non-profit Friends of Grand Rapids Parks. He says the city and the coalition have barely been able to maintain the city’s parks.

“You spit-shine things and then you tack them together with chewing gum and hope it lasts 'til next season,” Faber shrugs. He points to areas of this park where volunteers have repainted some of the playground. He says they’ve been able to secure more revenue for parks, including private donors.

“But after 10 years of doing that, you start to get donor fatigue. The rate of decline of some of these resources gets to the point where it takes more than spit and chewing gum; you actually need to replace them,” Faber said.

Faber says having a dedicated millage means parks won’t rely on the city’s dwindling general fund.

“That also pays for police and fire. It pays for a big chunk of our roads. And there are a lot of other things in line before you get to parks,” Faber said.

Staffing at Grand Rapids' parks department has been cut 70% – more than any other city department through the recession.

The millage would raise $4 million over seven years. It would be spent on upgrading existing parks and keeping city pools open longer over the summer.

The city of Detroit will close 50 parks in the spring because of the City Council’s inaction on a proposal to make Belle Isle into a state park.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says that would have freed up about $6 million for the city to invest in other parks and recreation centers—and that effectively means $6 million they’d counted on to bolster other park services have disappeared.

So the city is responding by making cuts: closing 50 parks, limiting maintenance at another 38, and canceling plans to extend rec center hours and add 50 employees.

"A bankruptcy lawyer and turnaround expert tasked with reviving Detroit's beleaguered finances could be greeted by a crowd of protesters when he arrives at work today. Kevyn Orr plans to spend his first day meeting with some city officials who for months fought against creating his job," the Associated Press reports.

National parks face cuts

"Visitors to national parks in Michigan this summer could see limited hours and scaled-back programs because of the automatic reduction in the federal budget. Parks in Michigan are already feeling the pinch of budget cuts affecting the National Park Service," the Associated Press reports.

Postal workers protest over plans to cut Saturday delivery

"Hundreds of postal workers who oppose plans to cut home delivery from six days to five picketed outside U.S. Postal Service offices in Michigan on Sunday. . . The Postal Service has been facing rising deficits. Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe last month announced plans to cut Saturday delivery, saying it would save $2 billion a year," the Associated Press reports.